Small oil spill fouls Koh Larn beach

About 50 Pattaya and Marine Department workers needed about four hours to clean up a minor oil spill that washed ashore at Koh Larn’s Tawan Beach.

Suspected to emanate from a passing ship, the oil slick fouled a portion of beach, clumping in balls along the shoreline Dec. 7. While not permanently damaging, the spill prevented tourists from going in the water at the beach.

One beach umbrella vendor said such minor spills occur frequently and accused locals boats of dumping fuel overboard or negligently polluting the sea.

Rescue workers clean up oil deposits from at Koh Larn’s Tawan Beach.

This article was published in the Pattaya Mail newspaper on Friday December 13, 2013 (Vol. XXI No. 50).